Pentathlon GB endured a frustrating day at the 2016 Modern Pentathlon World Championships in Moscow as Samantha Murray and Kate French finished 16th and 24th respectively after being well placed early on. A hugely impressive performance from Hungary’s Sarolta Kovacs saw her take the gold ahead of France’s Elodie Clouvel and defending champion, Germany’s Lena Schoneborn.
The final started in the swimming pool where former World Champion Murray recorded an impressive time of 2:08.40, the 3rd quickest of the day and over 1.5 seconds quicker than her semi-final time on Wednesday. French’s 2:19.22 was nearly 4 seconds slower than in her own semi-final but still quick enough for 21st.
The highlight of the swim came courtesy of Clouvel though as the Frenchwomen broke the Women’s Modern Pentathlon 50m pool World Record with her time of 2:06.59.
The finalists then all moved to the fencing salle where the British duo made a lightning start, both sitting in a tie for 1st after 5 rounds with 8 victories and 3 defeats apiece. Fencing alongside each other, both Murray and French then struggled through the middle part of the ranking round, Murray slipping to 12th with 14 victories and 11 defeats after 12 rounds with French dropping to 26th on 11 victories and 14 defeats at the same stage.
However, both showed great fighting spirit as they finished strongly. Murray completed the ranking round in joint 11th with 19 victories and 12 defeats with French climbing into a tie for 17th with 17 victories and 18 defeats.
Neither of the British duo claimed any extra points in the bonus round as they lost their opening bouts. This meant Murray ended the morning in 3rd, just 9 seconds behind the leader, Hungarian Sarolta Kovacs with French in 20th, 53 points back.
On a tight and technical course, the ride proved to be extremely difficult for many of the athletes, particularly the early starters who were knocking down numerous poles and suffering time penalties. However, French produced an extremely accomplished performance on a tricky horse, knocking down just a single pole to pick up 293 points. Clitheroe’s Murray followed her teammate’s lead, also felling just a single pole alongside 4 time penalties meaning she gained 289 points from her ride.
This saw Murray start the combined event in 4th, 20 seconds behind Kovacs who had extended her lead with a perfect ride. Gravesend’s French had moved up a place to 19th and started exactly a minute behind the Hungarian in a very tightly packed field.
Whilst Kovacs looked comfortable throughout, a thrilling combined event followed behind with athletes chopping and changing throughout and a huge fight for the silver and bronze medals. Despite some strong running, Murray lost ground to many of her rivals on the shooting range before eventually finish 16th with French slipping back to 24th in the Russian capital.
Pentathlon GB Performance Director Jan Bartu explained that “Kate did not look her usual self today, starting with the swim at the beginning of the day where having swam a PB in the semi-final, she dropped 4 seconds today. She struggled throughout the day so we’ll have to find out what was going on and move on from this experience. Kate was suffering from illness in the build-up so it may be that she was still suffering some residual infections.”
Meanwhile Bartu explained that Murray’s competition simply “came down to one shoot” after being well positioned following good performances in each of the first three disciplines. “This was Sam’s best swim performance in a year and although the fencing could have been better she did really well. 1 knock-down in the ride was acceptable but unfortunately the tough nature of the combined event doesn’t allow you to stay in contention with one bad shoot and she dropped away from the leaders.”
Despite describing the day as “Not a very happy one for us” and congratulating the three medallists and their teams on their performances, the GB Performance Director was quick to look ahead to the rest of the season. “We still have a lot to do and perhaps this competition as a whole is a bit of a wake-up call for everyone involved – athletes, coaches and support staff. We now look forward to the Olympic Games and I’m still confident we have the potential to do well.”
Both athletes have already achieved the Olympic Qualification standard and will now have a wait to see if they are selected for the British team with the announcement on June 8th.
Tomorrow will see the on-form Jamie Cooke return to action in the Men’s Final after he was the only Brit to qualify yesterday (Thursday 26th).
Reflecting on Cooke’s performance yesterday, Men’s Head Coach Marian Gheorghe commented that “It was great to see Jamie qualify for the Final. It was a very tough field with many quality athletes.
“I think the key to Jamie’s performance yesterday was a strong fence. He has gained valuable experience and put a lot of work in recently. This gave him confidence and with his sub 2 minute swim he was able to go into the combined event is a good position and with much confidence.
“It is much harder to qualify from a position that is in the middle of the group as the pressure becomes too great and you are relying on other people making mistakes.
“Jamie is recovering today ready for the World Championship Final tomorrow where we all hope he can start just as well with his swimming and fencing to get him in a competitive position before the ride and the combined.”
Good luck Jamie!
Report courtesy of Pentathlon GB
